• Apostle Kumi Larbi is advocating for an open vote after the bill is debated by lawmakers
• He says Ghanaians must know where each MP stands on the issue
Members of Parliament must use an open ballot system when voting on a bill seeking to criminalize the activities of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, LGBTQ+; community.
This is the view of Apostle Alexander Kumi Larbi, the General-Secretary of the Church of Pentecost.
In a tweet posted on October 7, 2021, the clergyman said: "We demand full transparency in the LGBTQ bill. So we are asking for open ballot of Yes and No boxes. We want to see every MP's vote.
"We put them there and should see how they represent us on this matter of our value system," his tweet read.
His views are supported by TV show host, Paul Adom-Otchere, who has also asked that the debate on the bill expected to start later this month be televised LIVE and the subsequent vote of MPs be open and loud.
The tweet of the Pentecost pastor came barely 24-hours after the church led by its Chairman, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, had presented a memorandum to Parliament expressly backing the bill.
They also presented 15,000 signatures from their members supporting the anti-LGBTQ+ bill properly named: “Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values 2021.”
Other Christian denominations and groups have recently stepped up their support for the bill after a group of academicians, lawyers and human rights defenders presented a memo opposing the bill which they described as undemocratic and unconstitutional.
Ghana’s pro-gay collective
A group of 18 academicians and human rights defenders have voiced strong opposition to the bill before Parliament, which is seeking to extensively criminalize the activities of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, LGBTQ+.
The group submitted a memorandum to Parliament seeking that the bill is rejected because it was largely unconstitutional and infringed on basic human rights.
Members of Parliament behind the bill, led by Ningo Prampram MP Sam Nartey George, have rubbished the memorandum and asserted that the bill will be passed into law because it has the support of the wider Ghanaian populace.
Parliament is due to start debate on the bill later this month